Childhood obesity a serious 'epidemic today'

October 12, 2010|By Lorene Parshall, Staff Writer

GAYLORD — “We need to make the public aware of how big a problem childhood obesity is,” said Dr. Kevin Smith, family practitioner and program physician at Otsego Memorial Hospital (OMH). “Childhood obesity is such an epidemic today.”

Smith will be speaking to the parents of the Otsego County Parent Coalition at the Otsego County Library, 700 S. Otsego Ave., Wednesday, Nov. 3, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

“We are seeing borderline diabetes and diabetes 2 in children as young as 9 or 10 years old,” said Smith. “Some kids are coming in with horrible cholesterol numbers that were absolutely unheard of when I was a kid. It all comes down to poor eating habits and lack of exercise.”

Smith pointed out that parents only need to read the labels when they shop at Walmart and Meijer to see that there is sugar in about everything that is preprocessed and premade.

“Unless you cook from scratch, which is really hard for people to do these days with everyone being so busy and both parents working, it’s hard for kids to eat healthy. Even worse, too many kids are in front of the TV or playing video games for hours instead of being outside getting exercise.”

When Smith meets with the Parent Coalition to provide information on protecting children from obesity, he will bring along OMH clinical dietitian Julie Scheier.

Scheier will talk about nutrition and menu planning. They are both involved in the “Move Smart, Eat Right” program which educates families to protect children from the premature diseases and chronic conditions which are the result of childhood obesity.

An appointment can be made with Smith’s office to participate in the “Move Smart, Eat Right” program. To obtain more information about the program, call OMH Family Practice office at 731-7860 or visit www.myomh.org.

Brochures about the program can be picked up at the OMH Professional Medical Building, 829 N. Center Ave., Suite 210.

For more information about the Otsego County Parent Coalition, open to parents and caretakers of children ages infancy to 12, with special emphasis on the infancy to 5 age group, call 705-8283 or e-mail gsplo@copesd.org.